Getting Started with TouchDesigner
Hi! My name’s Imoni. I’m an artist based in ATL @imonitroni, and I’ve been creating a lot of TouchDesigner based work recently.
Fundamentals
First things first you’ll want to download TouchDesigner - derivative.ca/download. A Nvidia GPU is not required to use TouchDesigner.
A great aspect about TouchDesigner is that there is a lot of free information online. If you’re looking for somewhere to begin, TouchDesigner offers a fundamentals course here: learn.derivative.ca/courses/100-fundamentals/.
You don’t have to finish it all in order to get into things like projection mapping. However the first section of the TouchDesigner fundamentals course, Navigating the Environment [1], may be useful if this is new to you. I definitely encourage playing around with it!
Another good resource is The Interactive and Immersive HQ [2]. They have a video on projection mapping here: youtube.com/watch?v=mTH7ZB4x47Q. Feel free to try it out if you have access to a projector or if you just want to see how easy set-up can be.
TouchDesigner is really great for live visuals and connecting various components like lights, music, Arduinos (microcontrollers) etc. This person worked on a live interactive music experience for Toro y Moi. They detail their process here: youtube.com/watch?v=8zHPGbraW4Q.
These links are just the tip of the iceberg. It’s really powerful and offers deep programming capabilities if you’re interested in that.
Additional Resources
General Tutorials
PPPANIK youtube.com/@pppanik007/videos Great tutorials showcasing TouchDesigner’s visual capabilities
Projector and Display specific
github.com/laserpilot/Guide_To_Projectors_For_Interactive_Installations
poniesandlight.co.uk/reflect/how_far_push_screen/
Online communities
TouchDesigner Discord - td-discord.com
TouchDesigner Facebook - facebook.com/groups/touchdesignerhelp/
TouchDesigner forums - forum.derivative.ca/
